Pharrell Williams Says Writing Grammy Award-Winning Song ‘Happy’ Broke Him

Pharrell Williams Says Writing Grammy Award-Winning Song ‘Happy’ Broke Him

The hit record “Happy” took Pharrell Williams to a dark place.

During a recent interview with radio personality Zane Lowe, Pharrell opened up about the struggles that came with writing the 2013 song. As you may already know, Pharrell Williams wrote “Happy” for the soundtrack of “Despicable Me 2.” After noting how the song was more about “commission” and not so much him deciding to write about being happy, Pharrell Williams said,

“When it’s a commission, God, the universe, or whatever you want to call it, is kind of like, ‘Well, did you do this, was this your idea? …’You didn’t wake up one morning and decide you were going to make a song about an emotion.'”

He went on to note that he submitted 9 songs and was told “no” several times from the studio.

Pharrell continued,

“‘It was only until you were out of ideas, and you asked yourself a rhetorical question, and you came back with a sarcastic answer, and that’s what ‘Happy’ was.'”

Sharing the question he asked himself, Pharrell added

“‘How do you make a song about a person that’s so happy that nothing can bring them down?’ And I sarcastically answered it and put music to it, and that sarcasm became the song, and that broke me.”

____

“Happy” — written, produced, and performed by Pharrell — became a huge hit following its release. The track peaked at number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and won the Grammy Award for Best Music Video at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards.

Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!